Central Notes: Tigers, Royals, Peralta, Brewers

Tigers GM Al Avila tells Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press that he takes full responsibility for the team’s underperformance in 2016. “…[A]t the end of the day, I make those decisions and you’ve got to put a lot of the blame on myself,” said Avila. “So the guys that we brought in — and let’s say they didn’t perform for whatever reason — that’s on me. As Fenech explores, about $56MM of the Tigers’ 2016 payroll was dedicated to free agent signings Justin Upton, Jordan Zimmermann, Mike Pelfrey, Mark Lowe and Mike Aviles. That quintet of players, however, fell woefully shy of expectations and finished the season with a collective performance that was scarcely better than replacement-level. Fenech notes that Avila fared much better on the trade market — Cameron Maybin, Francisco Rodriguez and Justin Wilson — and will probably have to be more active in that regard this winter anyhow due to the lack of appealing free-agent options.

More from the game’s Central divisions…

Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star explores some potential trade scenarios for the Royals, noting that the team’s desire to shed payroll could result in moving a player who has been central to the team’s previous run of success. However, Dodd also reports that to this point, Kansas City “has shown little inclination to trade one of its central players,” so the listed scenarios are predominately speculative in nature. Among the soon-to-be free agents are Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Wade Davis, Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar — each of whom will hit the open market following the 2017 season.

The infield is a source of some uncertainty for the Cardinals heading into the 2017 season, writes Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. However, unlike many clubs with positional uncertainty, St. Louis’ problem isn’t a lack of options but rather a number of potential fits. The hot corner looks to be Jhonny Peralta’s entering next year, Hummel surmises, as Matt Carpenter could play either first base or second base — representing another position change for the versatile infielder. Peralta acknowledged to Hummel that rookie Aledmys Diaz has seized the shortstop gig and will play there moving forward, and the veteran didn’t have any complaints about the move. Nonetheless, Hummel writes that Peralta could potentially be dealt this offseason as well, if there’s interest, noting that he’s owed $10MM next year in the final season of a front-loaded four-year, $53MM pact. The presence Matt Adams and Kolten Wong (as well as potential interest in re-signing Brandon Moss), of course, only further clouds the infield picture.

Brewers GM David Stearns and manager Craig Counsell spoke to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel about the team’s 2016 season and explained that many of the incremental goals the team set for itself were met, even if there’s still quite a bit of work to be done. Counsell spoke positively about the competition among players not only at the minor league level but also at the big league level as a particular source of excitement for him. As Haudricourt notes, the Brewers led the Majors in stolen bases and also came second only to the Blue Jays in pitches per plate appearance (3.97), which resulted in a staggering increase in walks but also an uptick in strikeouts. The Brewers struck out too often and ranked in the bottom third of the league in overall runs scored, so Stearns isn’t celebrating the increase in selectivity just yet. “I think ultimately you evaluate offense by the number of runs you create,” said the GM. “All offensive contributions are geared toward creating runs. Clearly, we’d like to create more runs in the future. We can get there in a variety of ways. There’s no prescribed way to build a lineup. We have to be flexible in how we approach run creation.”

I know these beat writers are supposed to be homers but I wish they would be more honest. Alex Gordon would net zero in return and the Royals would be lucky to find someone that would take on one half of his remaining contract. Moustakas they should try to sign to a longer term contract. Hosmer had a pretty good year considering all the injuries to other players.

I agree with you, also the thing with Carpenter when he bats anywhere besides leadoff he tries harder to hit the ball out of the park then he turns into a different player which isn’t good! Thats where the Cardinals need a real hitting coach and keep him from doing that! Cardinals need to go out and get a leadoff hitter(Fowler) along with Cespedes(my pick) or Desmond! But of course that would move Piscotty back to 1B then the Cardinals would have to trade from the infield!

That is the funniest thing I have seen today. In no world is Inciarte worth anything close to Reyes, let alone Martinez and to suggest that is where a conversation would start shows a complete disconnect from reality and a complete lack of understanding of baseball player evaluation.

It doesn’t matter because if Matheny has a strong bench he will move them all over the place and play them in positions they are below average defensively. How many line up changes did the Cards have? No faith in Matheny anymore. The Cards would do better with a weaker bench so he has to play guys in the positions they excel at. Trade for some stars that may be available.

Cardinals would be dumb to trade anyone from the infield, they have the best depth in the majors on the infield! Peralta will be healthy this coming year and can be traded at the deadline if hes producing! Carpenter 1B, Wong 2B, Peralta 3B, Diaz SS with Gyorko utility infield at every position along with Garcia getting more at bats off the bench! Cardinals don’t need to trade to get a CF they should & will go out and sign Cespedes(after he opts out), Desmond or Fowler(after he opts out)! Cardinals have the money to not only sign 1 but 2 if they really wanted, but only really need 1! No need to trade since every team is going to want Martinez and or Reyes plus more depending on which player it is!

The Cubs have so much infield depth that they resort to playing Bryant and Zobrist in the OF half the time. They switched Contreras to C/OF from corner infield. They traded Starlin Castro away to clear room.

I know StL fans don’t like to think about the team up on the north side, but saying the Cards have the most IF depth in the majors is just not so.

Sure, it can be both. It can be not enough if you are looking at the point of view the team trading the player you want to acquire (and I’m not saying any player specifically in this hypothetical case) in other words not enough to get the deal done. It can also be too much to give up from the point of view of the Cardinals simply from the fact that it deteriorates them overall further than the new acquisition boosts them as a team. Just because a team has the pieces to get something done does NOT mean that they automatically should do it, nor does it make them necessarily a better team if they do. Again, I’m not speaking of any specific player, only answering the question how can it be not enough and too much at the same time. I also admittedly have no clue what SPECIFICALLY thetruth was referring to (which part of Wainofan’s post).

What is the pulse around St.Louis regarding Wacha? Is everyone down on him and wanting to move on or is their optimism in him bouncing back to the stud we all saw in the playoff’s a few years back? I think the Padres & Cards match up well when they deal with each other. The Jay/Gyorko deal was very even for both sides even with Jay getting hurt he provided veteran leadership for a young ball club and was a bright spot on a dismal team. I was thinking since the Padres need top of the rotation help desperately & the Cards needing a lead off hitter/defensive/speed centerfield let along with bullpen help maybe a deal surrounding Wacha for Jankowski + Buchter or Hand. Thoughts? Too little or Too much going one way?

Reyes will prob start in bullpen regardless if wacha is in or not. He hasn’t pitched enough innings to stretch out to whole year as a starter. Rotation would be Martinez, waino, Lynn, wacha, leake. I’d rather have Reyes starting at end of year than beginning. Then he’ll be full time next year. Similar plan as Martinez when he first came up. I would love to see them trade a starter but not sure we get much for wacha right now. Also have weaver, lyons, Gonzales, and rosenthal will all try out for a spot this spring. Yes rosenthal. Not too mention Garcia if we pick up his option. Surely a position of depth.

Rosenthal? There’s a reason why he was in the pen, and now it’s obvious that he may not have much of a future even there, certainly not as a closer. It’s been an experiment the entire time he’s been with the team and the results may be in next season as a middle reliever. If he fails at that, it will be one hopeful pitching coach after another until he fades away. You need more than one pitch as a starter, and one pitch that you can actually get over the plate as a reliever.

QO Moss, and offer a 2/30ish type of deal. He fills so many holes and is our 5th outfielder and 1B with Carpenter and Gyroko able to get reps at 1st.

Lock up Martinez if possible
Move on from Jaime (if extended and traded, that’s fine). Move on from Adams if Moss is back. Move one of Bowman or Maness to get them out of Matheny’s hands.

C – Molina/Kelly/Pena
1B – Moss and Carpenter split time
2B – Gyroko and Wong split time
SS – Diaz and Peralta getting some reps when Moss is at first and Carpenter needs to play third
3B – Peralta and Carpenter split time
OF – Grichuk, Pham, Piscotty, Moss and a new outfielder (im partial to Blackmon but Fowler is an interesting choice depending on cost)

The need to keep the depth isn’t being stated enough in this thread. People get hurt. We wouldn’t have Moss, Peralta, and Carpenter each play 162 games. And they allow a rotation for matchups and giving days off for other players (Moss can start in LF/RF here and there letting Carp play first and Peralta play third, Peralta can start at short letting Diaz get a day off, Carpenter can start at second when Gyroko/Wong isn’t producing/needs a day, etc). And when there is an injury we aren’t just decimated.

Realistically, the Cards aren’t going to pay 20 million for an addition, and Fowler getting a QO is probably enough for the Cards to not go after him. You won’t Cespedes patrolling the outfield in Cardinal red next year.

The cards make modest moves under Moz (thank God) and patch holes when necessary.

I could see a trade for Blackmon, but the cards wouldn’t be parting with Reyes or Weaver to accomplish that. Those guys are locked in in the Cards long term rotations with Martinez and Leake (yuck I know) while Lynn is in his last year, wainwright is aging and nearing the end of his deal and Wacha has to prove he can still be a starter (I believe he will be fine, peripherals are there).

The Cards need Moss back, his late season struggles will help make it affordable to bring him back. He is too good of a fit to let walk, they’ll at least QO him, which he might accept, and that would be fine too.

Find a CFer so Pham and Grichuk don’t have to be the answer in center. I’m a Blackmon fan. But there are several good options out there available in trades with at least three decent ones on the market making finding a good fit possible.

Also, Adam Eaton as a trade choice isn’t a horrible direction to look. If the Sox really wanted a good price and could package Sale too, the Cards would open up the farm. But I don’t see Moz going that extreme.